Chapter 15: The Trans-Hazcarp Passes Through

It did not take Olice and Toro long to finally reach the Trans-Hazcarp.

Toro felt a welling up of memories, his trials and joys, his love, his loss, he felt there was very little left under that clouded fog in his mind. He was relieved too, as many of his more ominous feelings turned out to be distant events, or ones that had come to a brutal end. There was still quite a number of holes though, and it was quite possible he would never fully recover from the shock of passing through reality.

He had however unburdened himself somewhat, some of his memories of loss could have been quite haunting, but he would not give in, he would return to his daughter he would return Olice to her home! He felt a burning in his heart! If Olice had looked with her magical sight, she would have seen Toro’s heartcrystal blazing with power.

“We made it!” Olice said, proud and excited to soon be home.

“Well, you didn’t encounter much, apart from sssomething pathetic enough imitate a being ass you, my pitiful Missstressss”

Olice just stuck out her tongue, not even Gander’s meanness could ruin her good mood.

“Oh, I forgot, we did encounter a piece of ssspirit flotsssam” Gander remarked.

Olice’s mousecat amulet quivered.

“You could do with respecting your elders, spiritling!” Susasov objected.

Gander smiled viciously. “Whenever did I refer to your aged sssself? I merely said we encountered a piece of ssspirit flotsam, you came to the conclusion I was speaking about you all by yourssself honoured sssenior! You ssshouldn’t think ssso harsshly of yourssself, you at leasst rate perhaps a little higher than ssspiritual refussse”

Susasov harrumphed, quickly understanding that trading words with Gander would not be fruitful.

Toro shook his head.

“Well, I’ll check my Trans-Hazcarp, see how functional it is”

Gander grinned insolently, but to someone of trained eye, they could have seen how more alert he became.

Toro stood in front of the fallen machine at the edge of the cracked ground it lay on. His legs wide apart he thrust an arm up, hand splayed likewise upwards as if he was trying to snatch the kaleidoscope sky from its place. The lines on his suit lit up and his arm and hand throbbed red.

“ARISE MY TRANS-HAZCARP!” He shouted.

Gander almost fell out of the sky laughing. Instead he jerked through the air, stricken with barely contained laughter. Susasov and Olice paid him no attention, instead watching intently. Olice in particular was paying close attention to the patterns bound within the carp’s segments.

The lens set into the head of the hazcarp lit up, then faded, flickering like this for a time before staying solidly on. A angry hum came from within the device and the whole body of the armour gently came alive with light shifting in well ordered movements within the crystal, this was followed by an artificial voice.

-Toro Yacobs, registered user, access positioning initialized-

The arms of the hazcarp jerkily moved, and Toro frowned, his look became even more worried when the hazcarp tried to stand. The legs did no move at all well, and the carp fell crashing.

The light of the armour’s eyes and its body flickered and grew dim.

-Error, matrices are misaligned, various other defects detected. Environment suitable for emergency reconstruction. Interface with main control and begin self-repair sequences. Access positioning priority annulled-

There was a hiss from the Trans-hazcarp, and the front of the armour opened upwards. The hazcarp had landed on its side after failing to get into position, so it was still quite accessible.

The inside was revealed to be a fleshy throne, not unlike quilted cloth in appearance, clustered around this was a mess of cords with plugs at the ends. Sweeping up from the arms of the throne was a pair of red crystal balls.

Toro quickly made his way over to the cockpit.

“Will it be all right?” Olice asked, worried.

Toro gave her a friendly smile. “Nothing to worry about, it is probably just a bit out of whack, dented a bit, this place is perfect for fixing it though”

Though he said this, all optimism faded from his face when was about to climb into the cockpit. His face grew ashen as he realised something.

“No” He quietly whispered.

He thumped the side of the hazcarp in frustration.

“This is too cruel!” He said, tears threatening to surface in his eyes.

Olice rushed over.

“What is wrong Sir Yacobs?” She asked worriedly “Can it not be fixed?”

“No…” He began “No, it can be fixed, but… even if it is fixed, I can’t use it to help you.”

Olice froze in place. She didn’t understand, wasn’t this a miraculous machine that could slip through gaps? A device that aped some of the simplest of her Mistress’ powers? She couldn’t escape the Red Crystal Realm?

At that moment, the other’s spiteful voice rang in her head over and over.

“Why do you continue? Give up, you will never escape this place!”

Olice did not sob. She did not even move, but tears flew down her face. Never before in what little of her life had she had so much hope taken away from her.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I didn’t remember” Toro said bitterly. “It was only ever made for one person, to protect one person. Even if I could fit you in, you would be torn apart when slipping through.”

“I-I guess that is it isn’t it? I’m a stupid little girl. Getting my hopes up. It was too good to be true, right from the start. It was right. Completely right” Olice said, voice dead.

Toro fiercely hugged her.

“Don’t give up! Don’t you dare! I’m not going to leave you alone here, I’ll stay with you until we find another…”

Olice pushed him away, or at least she tried and so he let go.

Olice was the daughter of a powerful hunter king, the boon of a behemoth spirit, she was not completely broken, and in her grief, she did not only think of herself. He father taught her mettle, her mother compassion. She thought of another little girl. One she didn’t know, had never seen.

“I’m not Hiko” Olice said, not managing to dry her tears.

“What?” Toro was confused “Of course you aren’t, you…”

“You have to go back to her. She must be worried about her father” Olice said firmly.

“I can’t leave you alone in this place” Toro said uncertainly.

Olice smiled through her tears.

“Who says I’m alone, I have Gander with me, and if he gets to be too much of a meanie I can talk to Susasov!”

Toro’s heart quailed. Was it simply innocence that allowed Olice to push for this act of little benefit to herself? He was shamed. He was not a good father, he remembered that much. Little Hiko loved him, but he was a bad father, he had been moody, and rarely present. She reminded him so much of her.

Olice’s act her will for him to return to his daughter reminded Toro of his child’s love. A part of Toro’s heart thought that it might have been just had he died in that mimic. Olice had saved him, perhaps more than she knew. Perhaps he had died in that mimic, and a new better man had replaced him? Toro shook his head. He was not a better man, he was the same one. He just knew now, that he had to try harder. If Olice could take this despair, could he not shoulder his burdens too?

He would return. He would not fail his little Hiko not again.

Toro unclipped his suit’s belt, with all of its bits on it. He also took out his red rod. He handed both of these things to Olice.

“If I return, I can’t help you, but I can give you those. I only hope they protect you well”

Olice tried to dry her tears again. She handed the belt to Gander, who for once was keeping his silence. Though mean spirited. Gander knew when to draw the line, he just had too much of a fondness for pushing up against it.

Olice reached up to her silvery hair. She took her ribbon of spun moonlight. She handed it to Toro, who was a little perplexed by the gesture.

“Give it to her!” Olice commanded

“You have to make sure she grows beautiful and strong!” Olice said imperiously.

Toro bowed low.

“As you ask so it shall be princess”

Toro paused for a moment, then he climbed into the cockpit. The cords came to life and shot into the sockets on his suit. He pulled the hood of his suit up, and a red visor swished down in front of his face, the hood sealed with the visor.

The front of the Trans-Hazcarp slowly closed over.

-You might want to step back… and Olice, thank you. You’ll find your way out. Don’t give up hope-

Toro’s voice reverberated from the hazcarp, a bit distorted.

Olice stepped quite face back.

It began slowly, the crystal around the Trans-Hazcarp twisting, distorting, then it seemed to flow into the armour.

The hum became a roar, and the Trans-Hazcarp slowly got to its feet, crystal still feeding in to it. All at once it began to brilliantly shine, then the shine condensed into a glow, and a pristine Trans-Hazcarp was revealed.

Glittering patterns beneath the armour were visible to the non-magical eye, and it radiated power.

Toro turned the carp’s back on Olice. He lifted up the hazcarp’s hand entering into the same pose as he had when he activated the magical machine. Shining stars of crimson clustered around the hand of the hazcarp.

-Goodbye-

The machine’s hand plunged through the air, vanishing and in moments, the whole of the Trans-Hazcarp followed with it.

Olice had watched the whole way through, etching the patterns structured actions within the Trans-Hazcarp into her mind.

“WHY I DO DECLARE! THAT WAS A SIGHT I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!”

Olice’s heart turned cold at the sound of that loud voice that she had heard once before.

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